It's A Wonderful Dog's Life
It's A Wonderful Dog's Life is the 27th arc in Housepets!. 'This arc marks the conversion of the human Joel Robinson into the dog known as King. Characters * District court official * Joel Robinson / King * Pete the Griffin * Grape Jelly Sandwich * Peanut Butter Sandwich * Fox Lindberg * Bino * Fido Byron * Rex * Sasha Hartford Story Joel, who has been sitting in jail for a while, is alerted by a court official that his attorney will arrive shortly. The moment his cell door closes, he turns around, and sees a large blue-feathered griffin behind him. Non-chalantly, he says the griffin is not his lawyer. Pete is surprised that Joel is taking his appearance so calmly, expecting Joel to change his strategy for his coming case to an insanity plea. Pete tells Joel that six months in jail will not serve his broken conscience, and he needs to learn that animals are not the cause of his problems. He immediately turns Joel into a Pembroke Welsh Corgi as he rants about expecting a situation similar to It's A Wonderful Life. He asks when Pete will turn him into a dog, but is shocked when he finds himself already changed, and naked. Pete morphs into a human, intending to play the dog's owner. His own new looks is inspired by Chrono Trigger. He says they will move into Babylon Gardens, and gives the dog a collar with a chess piece, which will be his new name: King. King tries to say his human name, but Pete overrides his mind so he says his new name instead. Grape calls on Peanut, startling him into losing a video game. Ever since Pete returns, she's been looking for him. She sees King and his owner moving in down the road, and feels it may be connected to Pete's return. As they settle in their home, King is reminded of his place several times the first day. When he looks for some food, Pete gives him dog food. He retorts that he had to eat dog food a few times while he was growing up due to poverty, and it really wasn't that bad. When he has to use the restroom, he is put outside. One day, King is left outside in the snow after getting his first vet check-up and first round of shots. He comments that being a pet feels not much better than prison, and that this exercise is pointless. To make matters worse, Fox—the dog Joel and his partner kidnapped and nearly killed—comes up and invites King to play-fight over his squeaky bone. King gets increasingly flustered as Fox tries to be friendly to the new dog in the neighborhood, especially when Fox offers King a sniff at him. After a brief bout of crying, King agrees to play with Fox. King feels better after the games, and Fox says his owner, Bill, was fuming because one of the PETA guys who kidnapped him earlier in the year appears to have escaped from jail. King does his best not to convey that he was that guy. Fox says he'd gladly make him pay if he ever crossed paths with him again. King finally warms up to being a dog, and Fox invites him to the Good Ol' Dogs Club Christmas party. However, when there, Bino gives King his catnip bomb he had built for Peanut the previous Christmas, not liking King from the start due to his pretentious name. Fox rips into Bino for his prejudice. As they argue, King slowly grows angrier and angrier. Eventually, he screams out a human expletive, and tells the crowd of pets off. He yells out that, despite trying to be a better person, everyone keeps turning on him. He leaves the party, and tells Fox not to follow him. Bino is certain King has a Napoleon complex, and Fox has had it with his attitude. Heading home, King runs into Sasha. She tires to offer to cheer King up, but he tells her not to follow either. As she remains outside, King asks her why. Sasha has been left outside after her owner failed to get a date that night. She remarks he sometimes forgets when he's angry. After a moment of thought, King decides to spend the night keeping Sasha company. In the morning, Pete finds King and Sasha huddled under a blanket together. He gets King to get up, telling him she is "protected". King is upset, seeing no point in this charade. Despite his change of species, he's still the same person, and wouldn't know where to begin when it comes to changing that. Pete tells King that admitting he wants to change is a great place to start. Changes this profound do not occur suddenly; they take time and effort. Pete then tells King he has no intention to ever change him back to a human. And that his follow-up with the Vet was the next day. While he sat there shocked, Fox caught up with King. King apologizes to him for yelling at him the previous night. Fox cheers him up by informing him that he hurt Bino for what he did to King. Events *Pete turns Joel into a Welsh Pembroke Corgi, disguises himself as his owner and move to Babylon Gardens. Joel is referred to as '''King from this point on, as he is unable to call himself his own name. *Fox introduces himself to King, and the two become fast friends. *Bino and King become enemies. *King and Sasha become friends. *First instance of Fox purposefully injuring Bino, though he threatened him in Fido's Return. Trivia * The irony of Fox becoming King's friend is that Joel was one of the people who attempted to kidnap Fox in A Sinister Shadow. This would come up again in Not All Dogs, and Heaven's Not Enough, Part 1. * The title of the arc is a reference to the film, It's A Wonderful Life, which King sarcastically expects to run through the plot of as he is turned into a dog. * Bino's 'catnip bomb' was the originally the prank he intended to use on Peanut in Housepets Christmas. * King swearing in Your Heart Is Full of Unwashed Socks marks the first time someone has used censored dialogue in Housepets!. Category:2009 Category:Comics Category:Story Arcs Category:Christmas Category:King Saga Category:Transformed